Jacob beese



UNITED STAT S ATENT .rricn.

JACOB REESE, OFv PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

PROCESS OF CONVERTING CAST=IRON INTO FlBROUS WROUGHT-IROM SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 286;.30, dated October 9, 188.

Application filed April 11, ISSI. (No specimens.)

To all whom iamrty concern:

Be it known that l, Jxoon REESE, a citizen of the United States residing at Pittsburg, county of Allegheny, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improved Process for the Conversion of Cast- Iron into Fibrous lVroughtJron while the Metal is Held in a Continuous Fluid State; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

In the conversion of cast-iron into wroughtiron, as heretofore practiced, the operation has been conducted in a catalan i'orge fire or in a puddling-furnace. In both of these processes the iron solidifies when the metalloids are eliminated, and the iron is brought to nature; hence the wrought-iron produced byboth of these processes is withdrawn from the furnaces in a solid state. Pure iron is of a crystalline texture. The fiber'of wrought-iron is caused by the presence of oxide of iron, which is interstratified in alternate laminae with the iron, and the percentage of oxides which the iron contains will determine the degree of its fibrous character. The elimination of the met-alloids from iron is effected by oxidation, at which time a portion of the'iron is oxidized to magnetic oxide, which remains mechanically' admixed with the metal. A portion of this oxide is removed from the metal (in the catalan and puddling processes) by liquation and by the chemical action of carbonic oxide, (CO). In the-fluid processes-such as the Bessemer and open-hearth-the oxides are reduced by the agency of manganese, and as ithas been considered essential that the resulting metal produced by the fluid processes should contain a small percentage of manganese, it has consequently been the universal practice to. incorporate a larger amount of manganese in the metal than necessary to remove the entire quantityof magnetic oxide contained in it, and as a result all such metal possesses a crystalline texture.

The object of this invention is the manufacture of fibrous wrought-iron by the Bessemer and the open-hearth processes.

In the practice of my invention by the Bessemer process molten cast-iron is run into the converters, and therein blown with an air-blast until the metalloids are eliminated. The converter is then turned down and a specific amount of silicious pig metal or a silicide of iron is added thereto for the purpose of reducing the oxides to the desired degree. metal is then poured into ingot-molds. ingots so produced may then be placed in an ingot-regenerator or in a heating-furnace and broughtto an equal temperature suitable for rolling. The ingots should then berollcd to the desired form. During this act of rolling the oxide of iron which has been left in the metal will impart to it a fibrous character.

The amount of oxygen present in Bessemer metal at the end of the blow ranges from twenty-six hundredths (.26) to thirtysix hundredths (.36) of one per cent, according to the conditions and duration of the blow. In a'charge of twenty thousand (20,000) pounds, with a waste from blowing of twelve (12) per cent, we would have at the end of the blow seventeen thousand six hundred (17,600) pounds, and assuming the presence of thirty six hundredths (.36) of one per cent. of oxygen, and desiring to produce a metal containing ten hundredths (.10) only, it is therefore necessary to remove twenty -six hundredths (.26) from the metal. In removing this oxygen from the metal by the agency of silicon, silicic acid is formed (SiO,,) and as the combining proportion of silicon is twentyeight (28) and that of oxygen is sixteen, (16,) the exact percentage of silicon to be added may readily be determined as follows Twenty six hundredths of one per cent. of seventeen thousand six hundred pounds is fortysix pounds, (nearly) To remove this quantity from the metal it will require forty-three (43) pounds of silicon, and the result will be silicic acid, (SiO,,) which will pass into the slag, and the metal, if immediately cast, will contain ten hundredths (.10) of one per cent. of oxygen, or, in other words, about thirty-five hundredths (.35) of one per cent. of magnetic oxide of iron. The oxygen to be removed may also be eliminated by means of manganese, as now commonly practiced; but when manganese is used the chemical action which results from its union with the oxygen causes a violent ebullition of the metal, and has a tendency to leave the metal in a porous, spongy condition when cast; but when silicon is used as the agent for deoxidizing, little if any ebullit-ion takes place, as the result of the chemical The The

action is silicic acid,(silica,) and the resulting metal will be more solid and free from blowholes and aircells. Q

The advantages of my process are, first, the production of large quantities of fibrous wrought iron of a uniform quality for the manufacture of nails, spikes, sheets, plates, and merchant shapes by means of the Bessemen or open-hearth processes and, second, fibrous wrought-iron may be produced by my process at less cost than by the puddling or catalan process; third, the fibrous iron so produced by me (by means of the Bessemer process) may be welded as readily and as thoroughly as the wrought-iron now made by the catalan or puddling processes.

In carrying out my invention in the manner described, the metal,if treated in an acid-lined converter, should not contain over one-tenth (.1) of one percent. of phosphorus; butwhen treated in a basic-lined vessel and in the presence of a basic slag,metal may be used containfibrous wrought-iron, which consists in, first,

elminating the metalloids by oxidation while 'a fibrous character to the metal during the rolling operation, substantially as specified.

2. In the process for the conversion of castiron into wrought-iron, wherein the metalloids are eliminated by oxidation while the metal is in a fluid state, the oxide of iron thus formed then partially reduced by reagents, and the ingot cast therefrom subjected to the reducing action of rolls, as herein specified, the step of partially deoxidizing the previously-oxidized iron to the degree that the ingot produced therefrom shall contain not more than fifteen hundredths (.15) nor less than five hundredths (.05) of one per cent. of oxygen as oxide of iron, substantially as and for the purposes specified. y

In testimony whereof I, the said JACOB REESE, have hereunto set my hand this 8th day of April, 1881.

- JACOB REESE.

\Vitnesses:

XVALTER REEsE, J. M. RoURKE. 

